I'm going to garden the shit out of this plot

This weekend, our sexy gardener (ok, the Man) did a lot of clearing and preparing for our soon-to-be-vegetable garden. He spent a lot of time on the area outside of this fence (where we'll have tomatoes and berry bushes) but inside the fence there was already an area where the previous owners had kept some flowers and hostas. In this area I'm planning to add some flowers and also some lettuce, peppers and herbs*. Now, this is very ambitious of me, because I am a plant-killer of genocidal proportions. The only reason that our house plants aren't dead is because they've obviously evolved to be able to tend to themselves while I am asleep, because I'm sure that nothing I'm doing is helping them. Luckily, this outside area is right next to the hose, and gets a good amount of light.

Growing this stuff has nothing to do with not going out and buying it, and everything to do with proving that I can do it. You see why that's dangerous, yes? Because if/when I fail, I will be crushed. I so look forward to tending to and harvesting our own foods, and I want very much to be a positive force on these plants. Damn it.

So, any super-great advice or whatever?

*I know that lots of leafy vegetables accumulate heavy metals from the soil, so I will be planting these in separate containers. Safety first!